Explore what makes a National Forest different from a National Park and a handful of ways to explore and take care of the ones near you. Acadia. Glacier. Grand Canyon. Great Smoky. Yellowstone. Yosemite. Chances are that you’ve heard of... READ MORE

This post was originally published on July 6, 2015, and updated on July 1, 2021. “Gap year experiences invariably serve to develop some of the non-cognitive skills that current research are showing predict success better than IQ: motivation, optimism, grit,... READ MORE

Blisters can be the difference between having a good or bad time on your next outdoor adventure. Below are the steps to prevent and care for a blister in the backcountry. I’m going to start this post with a little... READ MORE

What Is Journaling? At its core, journaling is a physical form of personal processing. A journal can look a variety of ways, but at its core it creates a time and place for you to privately dump thoughts. Taking the... READ MORE

This post was originally published on July 11, 2017, and updated on June 14, 2021.  Unplug. Recalibrate. Make learning real (fun) again. Gain perspective. Do hard stuff. Learn to say yes. Live your values. Increase people skills. Discover your strength.... READ MORE

Take a look at the intentional structure of an Outward Bound LGBTQ+ expedition that creates space for connection and community-building among peers.  Ideally, an Outward Bound course is an experience of building the world we want to live in.... READ MORE

Feeling welcome in the outdoors depends on many factors, including our relationship to place, people and experiences. Explore three ways to make your next campsite a welcoming place for all. Setting out on an outdoor adventure, a crew leaves the... READ MORE

Dear 2021 Graduates, I just returned from a five-day backpacking trip in the Los Padres National Forest with a group of high school students from the Midland School. While not instructing Outward Bound courses, I’m the Dean of Experiential Learning... READ MORE

How to understand different learning styles and why it’s important in empowering students to succeed. It took me a while to learn how to tie knots. It’s an essential outdoor technical skill that I lacked before becoming an Outward Bound... READ MORE

Choosing excellence takes away the immediate standard of perfection and replaces it with a growth mindset and an ability to move far beyond it. My first backpacking trip was an experience with more firsts than I could count. It was... READ MORE